The present invention relates to agricultural tillage equipment and a method for using the tillage equipment to till a ground surface, and, more particularly, an improved soil tiller and method of using said soil tiller to produce a seed bed having a series of separate and distinct rows of soil that are able to encourage growth of desired vegetation.
The most important element in agricultural production is the condition of the soil in which crops are planted, which is determined by the tilling of the soil as well as by the weather or climate surrounding the soil. Soil types vary from coarse particles (such as gravel and sand) to fine particles that easily join together (such as to form clay). The clay particles (which make up only a small percentage of the soil) act as a binder to hold the variety of differing soil particles together. As a result, the greater the amount of clay in the soil, the greater the adhesion of the soil particles to each other. When the soil and clay particles are moist, it is easy for them to be compacted by traffic of field tillage equipment, but it is difficult to return to its original structure. Moreover, when the compacted soil dries, it becomes very hard and plant roots cannot penetrate in search of water and plant food. This hardness of the soil becomes a problem because all healthy plants require a moist and healthy root environment to supply water and chemical compounds to the plants, meaning that plants benefit greatly from a row of soil that acts as a sponge to receive water in the row and direct the water into the sub-soil below the row of soil. In order to accommodate the seed or plants, the plants must be placed in soil that is loose and at the correct temperature for germination and root environment. Moreover, the soil available for sufficient root systems to develop must be porous to permit all the free movement of water and air in the soil. Such soil will supply water and food and also make it possible for the roots to take the path of least resistance to obtain these two components from the soil.
It is commonly known that excessive tillage in an area of farmland will tend to reduce the production of the land for farming due to the overtilling of the land. The continued pulverization of soil will break down the structure of the soil so that the average soil particle will become very small. As a negative result, when rainfall occurs on a collection of these small soil particles, the minute size of the soil particles will cause the soil particles to easily join and cake when dried, which will compact the soil and make the soil hard, consequently reducing the soil""s capacity for absorbing and retaining water for vegetation planted in the soil, and making it difficult for any crops to grow in the poor root environment. These principles notwithstanding, most soil tillers are implemented to completely and thoroughly till the soil to the extent necessary to prepare the soil for planting seeds. This common method therefore leads to the problem of overtillage of the ground surface.
One established method for preparing soil for planting crops includes the method whereby soil was tilled in the fall by turnover of the soil with a moldboard plow or similar tillage tool which could completely or partially incorporate the surface residue into the soil. Using this process, the entire soil surface must be tilled rather than a portion of the surface. In the preparation of soil for seeding or planting a crop, the entire surface is prepared by a variety of methods with a seed tillage tool such as a mold board plow, a disc plow, a one way disc barrow, tandem discs barrow, chisel plow, spike tool barrow, field cultivator or other special tools. All of these tools have to be used for a wide range of soil conditions.
What is needed, then, and not found in the prior art, is an improved soil tiller and a method for tilling soil that operates to prepare a plurality of separate and distinct rows of soil along the width of the tiller while also providing inner rows of untilled ground between the tilled rows such that the soil will not be compacted and hardened as a result of overtilling.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved soil tiller having tilling blades separated at a prescribed distance to form a series of independent rows of tilled soil.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for tilling a field with such a tiller so that certain rows of soil are tilled while inner rows are left untilled to encourage the collection of water in the soil.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a tilling apparatus capable of tilling a series of independent rows for planting seed without tilling the space between the adjacent rows of tilled soil and to provide a greater area for the roots to absorb water and chemical compounds.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tilling apparatus that reduces the area of land required to be tilled by fifty percent or more as compared to conventional tiller systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tilling apparatus that reduces compaction of soil for planting crops.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished through a soil tiller having a plurality of blades for building a series of rows of soil as desired by the user and as required by the conditions of the soil. The tiller includes a frame and a means for preparing a plurality of rows of soil, with a determined distance separating each of the adjoining rows. The tiller is designed such that, when pulled behind a tractor or similar vehicle, a coulter will initially penetrate the ground surface to prepare it for building the row. A pair of tiller discs are attached to the frame in alignment with the coulter, and the tiller discs operate to further provide the desired soil and residue surface. The tiller discs are concave discs that are adjustable to move the soil and surface residue into the desired row area. Furthermore, a series of secondary discs having a sharp surrounding perimeter are provided after the tiller discs to further engage any undesired trash or plant residue that might remain on the cutting surface of the soil. Finally, a tiller wheel is positioned in alignment with the coulter and tiller discs, and the tiller wheel serves to further build up the row of soil. The perimeter of the tiller wheel has a plurality of blades attached thereto, and the blades are rotated in the direction opposite to the ground driven tiller discs each of the other tillage implements described above. A series of shields are provided at the side of the tiller wheel and attached blades so as to prevent the discharge of soil outside the desired row area.
This invention is particularly useful for any soil whose clay content involves tillage problems when the soil is too wet, and the method to be used with this tiller to prepare the soil is to produce a crop economically and also gain quantity and quality. Once the soil has been compacted due to prior farming operations, it requires a great deal of time and effort to compensate for the damage along with a special effort to avoid future soil compaction. It is therefore essential that a tillage time schedule be established to restrict soil operations to the period when least damage will be done to the soil by working the soil when wet.
The present invention increases the volume of the soil in the row ridge by increasing the depth of tilling and by including sub-soil with surface soil to increase the total volume of soil which provides a greater area for plant roots. The soil ridge formed in the fall is very rough and is not intended to provide loose soil as needed for planting seed. After the rows have been formed, no further operation will be needed until spring planting except the operations needed for weed control. The break-up of the soil for a spring planting is done by weathering during the fall, winter, and spring by the wetting, drying, freezing and thawing. This procedure is the same as the weathering process that takes place when a moldboard plow is used as the first soil preparations in the fall.
Once the tiller has passed over a tract of land, the soil will be prepared in multiple rows. This division of the soil between tilled rows and untilled rows by the tiller is beneficial in that energy is not wasted in tilling soil that will not be used, and the soil is further not overtilled so as to cake and become hard after a period of rainfall.